Contrast
by JJWalker
Summary: AU. She was a kind, patient, caring young woman. He was arrogant, serious and generally mean. How can they co-exist with each other when travelling together?
1. Chapter 1

**AN: This is AU. Therefore I'm changing the rules a little. Not all canon will apply in this story. You'll see what I mean when you read this chapter.**

* * *

**Contrast**

* * *

**Chapter One - Another Hot Day in Petalburg**

* * *

May Maple was cycling through the city of Petalburg, the wind in her face and the sun shining down on all exposed skin. She couldn't help but smile as she was slowly accelerated, as she wanted to note almost every detail of the city; from the faces to the buildings. Because soon enough she would be going back to chasing the dream that she had for years; become a Top Coordinator.

She had stopped cycling when she had reached the park that was overlooking the pier. Carefully getting off of her bike she sat down, allowing the grass to brush up against her skin. Looking over at the pier, she watched intently as various ferries were departing and arriving. It was at this moment where she noticed that she was not alone in the park. There were a few families and couples who were doing the same thing that she was. This bought another smile to May's face. She truly loved this city. Everything about it.

Unfortunately for May, she couldn't stay at the park forever, so she quickly made her way back to her bike with the intention to keep cycling. However before she could make some real progress, she was stopped.

"Hey, Miss May", a voice in the distance could be heard, commanding May's attention.

May stopped cycling and turned to the direction in which the voice was coming from. She saw a few little children all looking at her with enthusiasm. Not recognising the children, May walked over to them, the smile on her face still withstanding.

"Can I help you guys?" May asked.

"C… Can… Can I have your autograph?" One of the little girls had asked, albeit timidly. "I… I saw you on the Grand Festival in Sinnoh and I wanted your autograph". The little girl held out a Pokeball

May's heart melted. "Of course you can sweetheart." she had said, conveniently pulling out a pen from her back pocket. She took the Pokeball and signed it with her best handwriting before handing it back to the girl. "Is there anything else I can do for you kids?"

This time one of the boys in the group had replied to May, "Can you have a battle with me please? I have been training extra hard, every single day and I want to test how strong that I have become."

"Umm, hold on a sec". May once again looked towards her wristwatch, trying to see the time, the results of which shocked her. "I'm sorry, I wish I could, but I am in a bit of a rush, I'm going back on my journey tomorrow and I need to get ready. Also I don't have any of Pokémon with me at the moment so not today. Maybe when I get back though Okay?"

All of the children nodded in response.

"Okay, I have to run. Keep training. Go to bed at a reasonable hour. Eat your green vegetables. Bye!" May said, her words becoming faster and more unclear her "speech" went on. She hurried back to her bike and jumped back on.

"Uhhh, Miss May?" The little girl had followed her to bike.

"What is it?"

"…I like your green bandanna."

May smiled again, "Thank you very much my dear." May took the bandanna off of her head and folded it up, before putting it in her hand and extended the hand to the little girl. "You have it."

The little girl was shocked, to the say the least "Are you sure?"

May simply nodded in agreement.

"Oh wow, thank you, I'll never forget this." The girl took the bandanna and ran quickly to her friends. "Look what I got guys" She yelled enthusiastically.

May laughed at the eagerness of the child before running a hand through her hair. But she then remembered the time and she quickly began to cycle again. The smile on her face was replaced with a frown that best represented the fact that she was now in a hurry.

_I have to stop getting side-tracked. I need to get home_

* * *

"I forgot how hot this city was. And this was supposed to be in of the colder cities in this region? Ugh. This is torture. " A young man had said.

The young man was slowly making his way through the streets of Petalburg City, sweating buckets from the sun beating down heavily on all that was below it. His face was unnecessarily red and every two seconds he felt the need to rub his hand in front of his face, thinking that it would cool him down, even though that did nothing to help him.

"I'm just happy I didn't take any long sleeved sweatshirt with me." He spoke again.

"Pikachu Pika", the yellow mouse Pokémon, which was perched upon his shoulder, replied to him.

"I know buddy, but it won't be long until we reach Norman's house, then after that we can go to the Pokémon Centre and get out of the sun for the rest of the day. Even though we good get Rustboro City by the end of the day, I am not willing to risk dehydration to get there."

"Pika."

"I am surprised though, for the middle of the afternoon in a sunny place like this, there aren't many people around. You'd think they'd be enjoying the sun".

"Pikachu Pika Pikachu"

The young man frowned "Well it's there loss." The young man said before spotting a nearby park. "Come on Pikachu, we are going to sit in the shade of those trees for a few minutes.

"Pikaaaa", Pikachu groaned, expressive his distaste in his trainers plans.

"We won't take long, don't complain."

Pikachu sighed dejectedly as his owner took an unplanned left turn and walked onto a grassy area as opposed to the pavement that they had been walking on for the past few minutes. The young man eventually stopped walking as he had found a large tree to sit by. He took of the bag that he had been carrying before sitting down. Pikachu had jumped off of his shoulder and was now lying on his back, eyes closed. Seeing this as a good idea, the young man copied his Pokémon and took a place lying beside Pikachu. He took off his hat and placed it on his stomach before putting his hands behind the back of his head. He then took another glance at Pikachu, who appeared to be asleep.

"Don't get too comfortable, Pikachu. We won't be here for long."

"Chu", Pikachu replied, rather quietly.

The young man then went back to enjoying the shade, but unlike Pikachu he kept his eyes open and his view was the leaves on the tree that they were underneath. He turned his head slightly to look at the patch of leaves that were starting to brown.

_Summer's over. But I can bet my house back in Pallet that the weather won't change._

He then turned his head a bit more and took a quick glance at the Petalburg Harbour. He then returned to looking at the leaves as a small smile began to creep upon his face.

_I have to admit, this is kind of relaxing. It is nice to have a moment of peace for once._

"Excuse me?"

_Dammit._

The young man sat back up to see a group of children, the same group of children that had seen May earlier.

"Can I help you kids?" he said with a hint of grumpiness.

"A-are y-you..." One of the boys said but was quickly cut off.

"Come on kid, we don't have all day" The young man said, the irritation becoming more and more apparent with each word.

"Are you Ash Ketchum?"

The young man stared at the children for about 30 seconds, in amusement and confusion, whilst the children awkwardly looked at each other and the young man.

"Is that it?" The young man said to the children.

"Uhhh, yes", one of the other children had said.

"Yes. That's me, now if you can excuse me." Ash returned to lying down next to Pikachu, who hadn't moved at all during the exchange.

"Y-you're one of my idols" the first boy began to speak again.

Still lying down, Ash scoffed, "You picked the wrong person to idolise kid. Now any more questions?"

The kid opened his mouth to speak but couldn't find the words.

"Come on. Hurry up and speak" Ash yelled.

"C-Can you battle with me please?"

Ash was once again confused. These kids did not look ten. So how did one of them have a Pokémon before they were supposed to leave on their journey?

Ash turned to Pikachu. "You up for it?"

Pikachu enthusiastically got up "Pi Pikachu!"

_This should be fun._

* * *

After cycling through Petalburg City at a pace that could make even the fastest of bike riders jealous, May managed to find her way back to her house at the east end of Petalburg City. A sigh of relief followed by a large smile was protocol for May whenever she made it to her house. She always looked at her house with the same look of fascination, whether she had been away two years or two hours.

Excitedly, May jumped off of her bike and ran up the stairs of her porch and up to her front door. Knowing that the door was unlocked she opened it and hurried inside.

"I'm back" May yelled, her voice reaching every room of the house.

May is an energetic girl and her voice could easily reach every corner in a room. So it came as a surprise to her that no one had answered her.

_They didn't say anything about leaving the house._

After a few seconds of silence May had decided to walk into the house to see why there was no response to her yelling moments earlier. She was listing all the potential reasons to explain why there was no reply whatsoever and with every footstep she took, the explanations became a lot more elaborate and unlikely

She ran through the whole of the lower half of the house. But unfortunately for her the kitchen, the living room and the downstairs bathroom was empty.

_They're probably u__pstairs._

May walked to the stairs and was about to walk up them but she remembered she really didn't have the time to look for her family.

"If you can hear me, I'll be in the greenhouse"

* * *

May quickly made her way into the most lively place of the house, the greenhouse. Opening it she gave a smile as almost immediately was greeted by a small fox like Pokemon covered in brown fur.

"Hey Eevee" May said, picking the Pokemon up.

"Vee" The Pokemon said happily, making herself comfortable under her trainers warm embrace.

Walking into the greenhouse May smiled as she watched the Vigoroth owned by her dad and brother trying to reach the Tropius owned by her mother to take the bananas on the Grass type. The Tropius was currently airborne and the Vigoroth were trying to get closer to it by climbing up various trees within the greenhouse.

Sitting down, May then turned her attention to the other side of the greenhouse where her first Pokémon, Blaziken was currently meditating by himself. Watching her first Pokémon and thinking about how stronger that he had gotten since she had first picked him all those years ago, bought May into reality as she hadn't finished packing and she indeed had the biggest decision that she possibly had to make.

_Who am I going to take with me?_

This sudden realisation that she needed to take a few Pokémon with her for the upcoming contest season had startled Eevee as well, as her trainer had stopped petting her and made a sudden jolt, forcing the Normal type to jump out of May's arms and look back at her.

"Vee?"

May did not hear her Pokémon speaking to her as she was too busy figuring out what she was going to do about her Pokémon. In a matter of seconds, a bunch of questions had jumped into her mind

_How many do I take with me?_

_Do I catch any more Pokémon?_

_Do I swap them every so often?_

_Do I just keep them for the entire year?_

Before May could start to panic and figure out some sort of plan for her Pokémon, she was stopped again.

"Need some help?"

May turned around to see her father, Petalburg City Gym Leader, Norman Maple smiling at her.

"How long have you been here?"

"As long as you have. Now what do you need?"

May sighed "I don't know which Pokémon I want to take, and I am leaving tomorrow. Who would you choose?"

"Well I guess Blaziken would be a good choice. You might as well take Eevee too."

The Normal type jumped out of her owners arms and circled the father and daughter happily. "Vee Eevee Vee!"

May laughed. "Looks like someone is happy and eager to come with me."

"Do you have any other choices May?"

"I was thinking that I could take Bulbasaur, I haven't used her in a contest for a long time."

"What about Elekid?"

May frowned and began to nervously rub her elbow. "Well, umm. I don't know."

"Are you still having problems with him?"

"It's not that I have problems with him, it's more that he has problems with himself."

"What do you mean?"

"He still can't use electric attacks. I know some electric Pokémon like Plusle, Minun and Pichu who in some cases can't use electric attacks, but that's when they are hatches out of their eggs. And I caught Elekid so whatever is stopping him from using electric attack goes beyond me."

"It can't be that bad?" Norman asked. "Show me."

"Do I have to?"

"Do you want the problem to be solved?"

May sighed, "Fine."

May turned around walked over to one of the trees of the greenhouse, walking past her Blaziken and Max's Gallade in the process. She looked around for a few more seconds before recognising the yellow horns of a Pokémon, sticking out of a bush.

Knowing exactly who it was, May approached the bush and when she got there, she hesitantly stuck her hand into the bush where the horns were and pulled out a very surprised looking electric type Pokémon.

"Bi Bi?"

"Elekid, I told you not to go into the bushes. You only come out with scratches. You get more scratches in bushes then you do battling with me" May said in a mothering type tone.

"Biiii", Elekid said frowning.

"Never mind, come with me."

May carried Elekid back to her Norman and placed him on the ground in front of her Dad.

"You ready Dad?"

"Whenever you are" Norman replied.

May took a deep breath. "Elekid, use Thunderbolt."

Elekid began to spin his arms as fast as he could. Doing so, a small gathering of electric sparks began to generate on his horns. After a few more seconds, the electric sparks disappeared, confusing the Elekid.

"You see? Elekid can't use Electric attacks."

Elekid frowned and looked a little disappointed in itself. This caused May to stroke him.

"What moves can Elekid do?"

"Quick Attack, Brick Break and Light Screen."

"I think you will be fine for your contests if you only use him in when you are in the battling portion of your contests. And if you take him, you may be able to solve whatever problem that you are having."

"Yeah, I'll take him" May then looked towards her Electric type. "What do you say Elekid, you want to come with me when I leave tomorrow?"

Elekid responded by jumping in the air.

"I guess that is a yes then." Norman said, also petting the Electric type on its head. "You'll be able to learn electric attacks soon."

Almost as if it was on cue; Norman, May and a few of the Pokémon saw a large lightning bolt in the distance.

"That looked like a Thunderbolt. What power. I haven't seen that since…" Norman's eyes enlarged. "Come with me, May. You too Elekid."

Norman began to sprint as fast as he could towards the door of the greenhouse, with May and Elekid struggling to catch up.

"Dad, where are we going!?"

* * *

The battle was not what Ash had expected. He knew that he would win in the battle but he thought that the child that had challenged him would at least make a bit of a challenge.

He didn't. Not by a long shot.

"And your Swellow goes down. Do you wish to continue?" Ash said, hoping that the answer would be no. This battle was not fun anymore.

"Can I use another Pokémon? I don't think Swellow can battle after that last Thunder attack."

"Whatever, I'm going to win anyway" Ash grunted.

"Oh… ok then. G-Go Lairon!"

Ash knew that Pikachu could turn the Iron Armour Pokémon into a scrapheap, but it was going to an easy victory and that was boring. He needed to at least make Pikachu work for the victory.

But that was when he had a great idea in his mind and a sneaky smile appeared across his face.

Ash addressed the children that were watching the battle take place, "How many of you kids have Pokémon with you? Show of hands."

Four of the children's hands raised into the air.

"This is how we are going to do it." Ash said "Pikachu is going to battle all of your Pokémon at once. I need to beat all of your Pokémon to win the match but only one of you needs to beta Pikachu to win. That's fair isn't it?"

The children looked at each other and they all nodded. Then one of the children said that it was ok.

"Then it is settled. Show me the Pokémon that you will be battling with." Ash smiled.

At once all the children threw their Poke balls into the air and within a matter of seconds, joining Lairon were a large of selection of Pokémon.

By Lairon were now a Jumpluff, a Pelipper, a Breloom, a Treecko, a Noctowl, a Combusken, another Swellow, a Magmar and a Ninjask.

_Not a bad selection for a bunch of children._

"Let's do this. You ready Pikachu?" Ash asked, clapping his hands with a tad of excitement.

"Pika" The mouse Pokémon stated, with a look of determination on his face.

"You kids can have the first move."

"Flash Cannon, Lairon."

"Energy Ball."

"Hydro Pump."

"Use Seed Bomb, Breloom."

"Bullet Seed, Treecko."

"Shadow Ball, Noctowl."

"Fire Spin."

"Hyper Beam, Swellow."

"Flamethrower, Magmar."

"Hidden Power."

The children's Pokémon had unleashed their special attacks in the direction of Pikachu, but neither Pikachu nor his trainer were scared and the potential damage that this could cause to the mouse.

"Use Quick Attack to dodge."

Doing what his trainer had asked him to do, Pikachu flawlessly ran out of the way of the attacks, before he got hurt. The attacks had landed a few meters away from Ash and had caused a small cloud of smoke to appear, temporarily shielding Ash from the children.

_This seems to happen a lot in my battles._

When the cloud of smoke appeared, it was accompanied by a small wind. Unfortunately for some of the children, they had lost their footing and taken an impromptu visit to the ground. For one girl in particular, the green bandanna that was resting comfortably upon her head was thrust into the air and lost in the cloud of smoke.

"Oh no" The girl said quietly, more to herself then to anyone else.

* * *

"Come on May, we are almost there."

May could only look at the back of her Dad's head with confusion and disgust. She was exhausted. She had never had to run so much distance in such little time. If she had the breath to do so, she would have yelled a whole lot of curse words to show her current discomfort for the situation that she was in.

"Can't we stop? Where are we going? Why is this so important?" She yelled back. Norman was no more than 10 feet away, but due to her current state of exhaustion, Norman looked like he was 200 feet away.

May didn't receive an answer. Instead she saw her dad come to halt running which allowed May to finally stop running, so her Elekid could catch up with her.

"You ok buddy?"

"Bi... Bi... Bi" Elekid replied.

May smiled and picked up her electric type. May might have been the most exhausted human being currently, but Elekid was easily the most exhausted Pokemon.

"May, you're missing the action here." Norman said, a tad excited

Sighing, the brunette walked over to her father who was standing arms, focusing intently on what was in front of him.

"Ok I'm here. Can you please fill me in?"

Norman signalled to what was in front of him. May looked and saw that some sort of battle was going on between one man and a bunch of kids.

"Why is this important?" May had said to her father.

"He is someone you should meet."

* * *

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt and take those birds out of the sky."

The children didn't hear Ash call his command so it came as a surprise to them that suddenly; Swellow and Pelipper were engulfed by electricity and fell to the ground, hitting it with a thud. Their eyes had been replaced with swirls.

_Two down._

Swellow and Pelipper were returned to their Pokeballs and the owners of them had a frown on their face.

"Iron Tail on Ninjask, then use that momentum to use Quick Attack on Jumpluff."

Now that the cloud of smoke had disappeared, the children were in full sight of Pikachu. Unfortunately for them, they could only watch as Pikachu slammed his tail into Ninjask after his tail and grown in size and had glowed silver. Ninjask hit the ground and did not move. Before Ninjas hit the ground, Pikachu managed to hit Jumpluff out of the sky head first with a stream of whit light behind him. But Jumpluff was still moving after the attack.

"Iron Head, Lairon."

"Volt Tackle."

The plate on Lairon's head began to glow and he began to run at Pikachu. In response, Pikachu ran back at Lairon, chanting his name faster and faster as well as being surrounded in electricity.

The collision was a massive one. Unfortunately for Lairon, Pikachu had too much electricity for the Iron Armour Pokémon too handle and collapsed instantly. The residual electricity had reached Combusken and Magmar and they keeled over in pain.

"Come on, kids!" Ash yelled from the other side of field "You have some great Pokemon here, put up a challenge."

The kids who still had Pokemon in the battle all looked embarrassed. Usually when you have the numbers advantage in a Pokemon battle, you win. For the children, this battle was nothing but a disaster.

"But you are a former Silver Conference winner." The child that had recognised Ash in the first place spoke up "It wouldn't be a surprise that you are better than us."

"That was four years ago. I didn't beat all the members of the Elite 4 and I haven't entered an annual Pokemon League tournament since. Invalid argument" Ash snapped back. "Plus, your Lairon is 4x bigger than Pikachu and weighs 10x more. But in a head to head collision Lairon was knocked out and Pikachu was unscathed. The problem isn't with me."

The child was physically hurt by Ash's words and he quickly returned his Lairon and ran away with tears in his eyes.

_Wimp_

Ash looked over to the rest of the children who were all shocked at what Ash had just said.

"Are you ready to continue?" Ash addressed the remaining children.

"Treecko, Use Bullet Seed." One of the kids angrily yelled.

_Looks like I lighted the spark. Maybe this will make him battle harder._

"Quick Attack."

As a barrage of yellow seeds hit him, Pikachu was running at increasing speed, in the direction of the starter Grass type Pokemon. As soon as he got close enough Pikachu jumped and hit the Treecko in his stomach. The grass type flew across the field and landed with a thud near to a tree.

_I hate being wrong._

"Finish Treecko with Volt Tackle."

The children watched helplessly as they watched this seemingly unstoppable Pikachu surrounded himself with electricity and run in the direction of the Treecko. As Pikachu got closer and closer to The grass type, the residual electricity started to burn the grass. He slammed into the Treecko and both The electric type and Grass type hit the tree.

Unfortunately for one child, Pikachu had ran directly over a green bandanna and the electricity burnt it, leaving a massive hole in it and charring other parts. Heartbroken she had ran to pick it up and once she saw the damage, tears immediately filled her eyes.

"I give up, you guys are a lost cause. The battle is over. Go away."

Most of the children had returned their Pokemon and all began to walk away dejectedly, the one girl who was holding a ruined bandanna crying furiously as she walked away.

Ash groaned watching them walk away. He was not happy with the fact that even with the deck stacked against him, Pikachu managed to win without sustaining any damage. The sun was beating even harder and he could feel sweat developing in a few uncomfortable places.

"Pikachu it's getting hot. Let's go and see Norman now. He'll be surprised."

"Impossible" A voice said behind him.

_Dammit._

Ash turned around to see Norman, five feet away from him. Next to Norman was a girl that he had never seen before.

"How long have you been there?" Ash replied.

"I've been watching your battle from over a far. Looks like someone has been training even though he hasn't competed in a minute."

"I'll never stop training, Norman you know that." Ash scoffed.

The two could have spoken for hours, but due to a well-timed "don't-forget-about-me" cough by The young lady standing beside Norman, today was not going to be the case.

"Oh how could I forget, this is my daughter May."

* * *

**Ok, it stops there. As I stated earlier this is AU, which is why Ash and May have just met and why Ash's personality is different. **

**I hope you liked it. Leave a review and tell me what you think.**

**A big thank you to Ruggler354 who was the betareader for this chapter (and possibly the rest of the story). If you like well-written battle fics, he is the guy that you should be looking for.**

**Also I am going to be using some OCs in this. If you want in, PM me. See you next chapter.**

**- Walker**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two – First Impressions**

* * *

It took a lot to get Ash Ketchum confused. It comes with the territory of being a travelling Pokémon trainer. When you have been around so many places and met so many people you come to notice that you eventually hit some sort of routine with the places you go and people you see, like you have done it all before.

The fact that Norman Maple had a daughter confused him. He had known Norman for almost ten years and the fact that he had a daughter was something that had never been bought up in conversation until a few seconds ago.

"I'm Ash Ketchum." Ash said extending his arm and opening his hand for a handshake. "...from Pallet Town" he added.

"I'm May, nice to meet you." May replied, graciously shaking his hand.

Whilst the two were shaking hands, Ash couldn't help but notice a few things about the girl that she was currently shaking hands with. In the few seconds Ash spent shaking hands with May; Ash couldn't help but notice that she was quite feminine. This was shown in the fact that May was wearing black shorts and the fact that her long brown hair was in a bow.

_She's a co-ordinator, no doubt about it._

He could have thought about a million other things about the girl in front of him, but it had cottoned on to Ash that he was still shaking hands with the girl and was yet to say anything besides the introduction.

Ash noticed the electric type next to May's feet. "Is that your Elekid?"

May looked down beside her to see her Elekid, hiding behind her legs, but he was still poking his head out to the side to look at the man that they had just met.

May giggled. "Yes, he is mine. You'll have to excuse him. Unless he is battling, he is very shy."

Ash shrugged, "Whatever. So are you a Pokémon Trainer?" He asked with a frown on his face beginning to form.

May was a little bit confused on how to answer, because it didn't seem like Ash was even bothered about asking.

"No, I'm a co-ordinator."

_I knew it._

"And a pretty damn good one, dare I say." Norman added, "She has won a handful of grand festivals and she is well-known in the co-ordinator circuit. May could easily be the best co-ordinator of all time."

"Dad, stop." May said, shrugging off her Dad's comments although she quickly burst into laughter at the praise that she was getting.

Ash was not amused.

"Well good for you I guess." He said. "I was never too much into contests."

"Is that so?" May asked, not knowing what to say after the preceding comment from Ash. She didn't want to seem big-headed, but she thought everybody would have watched contests even if they never competed.

"Indeed it is…" Norman chimed in again. "Ash here is a travelling Pokémon Trainer. He competes in tournaments all over. Although not recently."

"Why not?" May asked, turning her attention back to Ash. "Have you been taking time off?"

"You could say that I guess." Ash replied, turning away.

May was again confused by Ash. _What did he mean by that?_ She thought. _Did I say something that I wasn't supposed to say?_

May's confusion was only heightened when she looked at her Dad to find that the smile that he had been wearing all day had disappeared and he was now looking sadly at Ash.

_What is going on here?_

"I have to say, you two look nothing alike." Ash said suddenly, garnering May's attention.

_What did he just say?_

"Luckily, she looks like her mother." Norman quickly replied, then laughing afterwards. "Ash, what are you doing in Petalburg anyway?"

Ash half-smiled, "I have a few stops to make."

"Are you staying at the Pokémon Centre?"

"I haven't checked in yet?"

"NONSENSE!" Norman yelled for no apparent reason, startling May, Elekid and Pikachu, whilst simply confusing Ash. "You can come stay with us. We have a guest room that you can sleep in plus Caroline and Max would love to see you again."

_Mum and Max know this guy too? Who is this guy?_

"I don't want to impose."

"I won't have any of it." Norman said, forcing his arm around Ash's shoulder. "You're staying with us tonight. You're practically like an older brother to Max."

_He is?_

"Are you okay with this, May?" Ash said, turning to face the young lady when he spoke.

"Uhhh the more the merrier." May said, unconvincingly.

"Then it's settled." Norman said happily, ignoring the tone of his daughter's last comment. "Let's go."

Both Ash and May felt uncomfortable at the prospect of being under the same roof, when they didn't know anything about each other. They also felt uncomfortable when Norman had forcefully grabbed them both and put his arm around of each of their shoulders just before they started walking out of the park and to the Maple home.

"Ummm, excuse me Miss May." A voice said, sheepishly.

The trio of humans plus the two Pokémon all shifted around to see a young girl in front of them. The girl was visibly upset, evident by her bloodshot eyes, runny nose and a sole tear running down her cheek. She also seemed to be grasping something in her hand very tightly.

_It's that little sweetheart from earlier, _May thought to herself.

All eyes were on May as the girl approached her.

"He… here's your bandana back." The little girl said, her voice slightly muffled due to tears. "It was destroyed when that Pikachu ran over it.

The girl then held the bandanna out for all to see. What once was a beautiful green and white bandanna was now almost completely black, due to the burns it had suffered. It was now complete with a hole in the middle of it.

"Just because it is ripped doesn't mean you have to give it back." May said, upset at the little girls' distress. She then knelt down and faced the girl eye to eye. "Keep it."

"No… I can't. You gave it to me as a gift and I ruined it. I-I can't keep it."

The girl dropped the bandanna in May's hand, turned around and ran away crying. May's first instinct was to go after her, but she then remembered that she was not alone and she stood back up.

"Well then, shall we go home?" She said, slightly upset.

May didn't wait for an answer and she started to walk out of the park. She caught a glance at Pikachu who showed no signs of guilt and Ash who looked nothing but bored

_What an ass._

* * *

Pikachu didn't enjoy the journey back to Norman's home. It wasn't because he was uncomfortable on Ash's shoulder because he has been doing that for years and he has never made any complaints as of yet. It wasn't down to the fact that it was too hot because he actually loved the humidity, although his trainer and best friend doesn't. What bothered Pikachu the most is the person and the Pokémon that he had met mere minutes before.

Every so often he would have noticed that the girl was making awkward looking glances at both himself and Ash. The one time he had looked back at her, all she did was look angrily back at him and she wouldn't stop staring at Pikachu until he turned away. This went unbeknownst to his trainer and the girls' father.

And if that wasn't enough the Elekid standing to the girl seemed to be staring at him as well. Unlike the girl however, Pikachu wasn't scared. He was more bothered by it than anything else. But it was after a while he figured out what the problem was.

He didn't like him.

Or to be more precise **they **didn't like **them.**

After so much time together, Pokémon would take various characteristics and personality traits from their trainers. Also most Pokémon can understand and interpret one another's feelings especially ones that share the same type and gender. And judging by the look on Elekid's face, Pikachu could only think that Pikachu's lack of compassion towards the girl made Elekid angry at him. Now most Pokémon would not get a sense of compassion unless they were trained Pokémon. This could only mean one thing.

May didn't like Ash either.

Pikachu tried to get a glance of his trainers face, but he was too busy talking to Norman on some trivial matter. But guessing from all the years that he has spent with Ash, he either didn't know, or he did and he didn't care.

More than likely the latter.

* * *

"Here we are." Norman said, placing his hand on his hips and flashing a toothy smile. "Home sweet home."

"It's bigger than I remember." Ash replied, sounding a little confused.

Pikachu looked up and he could instantly see what his trainer was talking about. There was something about this familiar house that had grown in length. It just seemed bigger.

"We had renovations." Norman said happily. "There is now a third floor to our house. Isn't that right May?"

"…sure." was May's reply. Her response was quite despondent but it went completely unnoticed by her father.

"When did that happen?" Ash asked.

"Around the time you won the Silver Conference a few years ago."

At the mention of the Silver Conference, Ash got a bit tense and shivered uncomfortably, eventually looking down towards the ground. Everyone noticed this and there was an uncomfortable silence for an amount of time.

"Pika?" Pikachu asked his trainer with concern, tapping on Ash's face with his paw.

There was no response from Ash.

"Well, what do you say we all go inside?" Norman said, doing his best to kill the silence. "We'll leave the Pokémon in the greenhouse, for a while. May can you escort the Pokémon please?"

"Umm… Sure thing. Come on Elekid."

May walked past her father and Ash as she made her way to the greenhouse, located at the side of the main house. She tried to catch a glance at Ash as she made her way past him, but his head was facing towards the ground.

_What's with him?_

"You go too Pikachu." Ash said, his voice lacking any emotion. "You may see some of the Vigoroth that you beat all those years ago. Ash flashed a cocky smile towards Norman.

"Cheeky little…" Norman murmured but eventually he laughed it off.

Happy that his master was not majorly upset anymore, Pikachu happily jumped off of Ash's shoulder and followed May to the greenhouse. May was already there with the door to the greenhouse wide open.

"Have fun!" May said enthusiastically as Pikachu walked into the greenhouse slowly.

* * *

"Caroline, Max! We're home!"

Normans' voice echoed throughout the Maple household, as both May and Ash were momentarily shocked by how high pitched Norman can get if we wants to be.

"We have a guest!" Norman continued to yell, before addressing Ash and May. "Come on kids."

Norman led the two younger people through the kitchen and into the living room. When they got there they all stood silent when they saw a young man, with glasses and bluish hair dancing in the middle of the living room, headphones on his head, blasting some sort of loud music with plenty of high-pitched voices being heard by all of the people in the room. His back was turned to Ash, May and Norman.

"Do you think we should stop him?" Ash asked, feeling a little uncomfortable watching Max dance.

"No, Ash." Norman said, with an ear-to-ear smile on his face. "Let's just see how long this takes."

And so they stood, watching and suppressing laughter as Max was dancing and having a very good time doing so.

But then, something terrible happened.

Something that they did not expect.

Max started to sing.

"I'M SO IN LOVE WITH YOUUUU…. I'LL BE FOREVER BLUEEEE." Max yelled at the top of his voice. He was singing with passion, although his singing skills leave a lot to be desired.

Ash was becoming all the more uncomfortable watching the youngest Maple sing; especially that he felt that glass (and his eardrums) could shatter any moment. He absolutely hated this situation that he found himself in, which was the complete opposite to what the others were feeling. Norman was giggling silently trying to stop himself from bursting into full out laughter, whilst May had buried her face into her father's shoulder with only the sound of muffled laughter coming through.

"I HEAR YOU CALLLLLIIIIIING, OH BABY PLEEEEAASSSEE, GIVE A LITTLE RESPECT TO ME- AAHHHHHH!"

Eventually Max turned around to see the three people standing in his living room, and the sudden appearance by said three people almost gave him a heart attack. His heart rate was accelerating with fear, but the fear was quickly replaced with embarrassment when the room was quickly filled with laughter.

"That is not funny! You almost gave me a heart attack!" Max exclaimed.

"I-I beg to differ, son." Norman said, beginning to calm down. It only took seconds until Norman was laughing again.

"Wh-What song was that, Max?" May asked, struggling to supress her laughter at the situation.

"Shut up, May." Max's anger was rising by the second. But his anger turned to confusion when he noticed the third member of the group standing in the living room.

"Is that Ash Ketchum?" Max asked, in a voice shrouded with confusion and a bit of excitement.

Norman stopped laughing and turned to the right and faced Ash. It appeared that Ash was staring into space and was unaware that he was now the topic of discussion.

"Yeah." Norman said, wiping a tear away from his eye.

Max's jaw almost hit the floor. It's not often that you see your idols "Wow. I haven't seen him in years. Why is he here?"

Norman smiled. "Ask him yourself."

"I don't think he knows that we are talking about him?" Max replied, waving a hand in front of Ash's face.

Norman looked towards the young man to his right and observed Ash as he was gazing into a corner of the living room.

"Hey Ash?" Norman asked.

There was no answer, so Norman put his face right by Ash's ear. Knowing where this was going, Max and May both put their index fingers into their ears, expecting the absolute worse.

"ASH, PAY ATTENTION!" Norman yelled, with a voice so loud that people in Oldale Town and North Petalburg could hear him. It was outstanding how loud Norman's voice could get if he wanted to.

But what was more outstanding was the time it took to register in Ash's head that he was being spoken to.

"Did you say something Norman?" Ash eventually said, making the Maple family face palm.

"N-Nothing." Norman said, clearly astounded by Ash's reaction to him yelling right in his face. "Wait, where is your mother, Max?" He questioned, addressing his son.

"She is upstairs. I think she was going to take a nap but I doubt that will be possible anymore" Max said a little bit quietly, trying to get the ringing out of his ears.

"I guess I'm in trouble then," Norman said, scratching the back of his head. "I better go upstairs and… _apologise_ to her."

Norman walked out of the living room and towards the staircase within the Maple home. Ash and May noticed the way Norman said 'apologise' when he was speaking and they both eventually came down to the same conclusion, causing them to shudder and look a bit uncomfortable.

Max did not pick up on this.

"What's wrong with you guys?"

* * *

It took a while for Pikachu to let his guard down and feel comfortable within the greenhouse when he first stepped in. But after a few minutes of running around and reacquainting himself with a few of the Pokémon he had battled against in the past, it didn't take long for the electric type to feel his usual jovial self.

He was currently lying down in a secluded area of the greenhouse where one of the Slakoth had showed him. He figured since Ash was not around at the current moment he could get a few minutes of sleep. Almost as soon as he walked into the greenhouse, he spent a large amount of time dodging Leaf Blade attacks from a Sceptile that he had defeated in battle years ago and sought revenge for himself and his trainer, so he figured a few minutes (or hours) of sleep would help him for when he next steps into harm's way.

Pikachu's sleep was not as peaceful as he wanted it to be. He was waking up and falling back asleep again because he couldn't stop thinking of a couple of things. His mind kept on going back to Ash's reaction earlier at the mention of the Silver Conference. It had been a while since Ash had won the Silver Conference and what was supposed to be one of the best moments of Ash's life was shrouded with one of the worse events that could ever happen to Ash. And being around Ash 24/7, Pikachu could only feel what Ash felt and it became a dark day for him as well. The difference between the two of them was that Ash could never let it go when Pikachu didn't. And the mere mention of the Silver Conference would be enough to make Ash get depressed; and if Ash gets depressed, it would be common for Pikachu to get worried about him.

And if that wasn't enough to weigh on Pikachu's mind whilst trying to get some rest, he also had a strange instinct to look over his shoulder an always be wary. Pikachu couldn't shake the fact that the Elekid that he met was watching him, possibly planning a sneak attack. He knew that the Elekid didn't like him or didn't trust him and combine that with the fact that Electric type Pokémon are naturally competitive, it seemed to Pikachu that he would be in an unwanted fight, if he wasn't careful.

Exasperated, Pikachu sat up. He knew he couldn't get a solid few hours of sleep if he was going to wake up constantly so he figured he might as well stay around the greenhouse and converse with some of the other Pokémon. But unfortunately a low audible sound emanating from the mouse's belly gave him other plans for the time being.

"Pika Pika." The Electric type said quietly, rubbing his empty belly for a few seconds. Ash and Pikachu hadn't eaten since getting into Petalburg City and now his stomach was paying the price.

Pikachu shuffled out of the small hiding space that he had been laying in and eventually found himself looking at the entirety of the greenhouse. He was hoping he would find some of the Pokémon eating food and then he could ask to share. Unfortunately for him, none of the Pokémon that he could see was eating any food.

But before hope could be lost Pikachu could see a small Oran Berry tree on the other side of the greenhouse with plenty of Oran berries growing. There was a large smile on the electric types face as he will be able to put an end to his hunger before it got a chance to be bigger and a lot more distracting on the mouse.

"Pika Pikachu!" he said happily as he ran across the greenhouse towards the Oran Berry tree. With every passing footstep he could taste the Oran Berry in his mouth. He couldn't wait to get his paws around it.

A few seconds later he was standing in front of the tree, gazing at the berries. Pikachu's stomach rumbled once again, encouraging him to climb up the branches to the top of this short tree and pull down a berry.

Pikachu began to climb the short trip to the top, with a smile on his face as he ascended up the branches. Every passing moment added more and more to his hunger. He could literally taste the Oran Berry, in its firm and juicy glory, as he got closer and closer to the top.

"Pikaaaa." He said, now perched towards the end of a branch, reaching for the berry.

***SNAP***

Unfortunately for Pikachu, the branch that he was standing on had snapped and he fell to ground, hitting a bunch of branches on his way down, ending with a big thud once he hit the ground.

The commotion caused a few Pokémon to turn and look at him. Most of them didn't seem to care at first and once the others saw Pikachu get back to his feet, they didn't care either.

"Pi…ka." Unsurprisingly, Pikachu was not happy when he got back to his feet. The first reason was that he still hasn't eaten and the other factor would be the fall from out of the tree. But what annoyed him the most because the fall wasn't an accident.

Whilst he was making his way to the top of the tree, one of the Pokémon in the greenhouse had split the branch when he was standing on it and due to the fact that he was focusing on getting the berry, he didn't see it coming.

And the culprit was standing in front of him.

In the not so far distance Pikachu could see a smirking Elekid with a broken branch in his left hand. His right hand had a few sparks of electricity coming from it, presumably from a Brick Break attack.

"Pika Pika!" Pikachu yelled at the approaching electric type Pokémon. Elekid responded by turning his back towards the mouse. This removed any doubt that Pikachu had about Elekid. He definitely didn't like Pikachu.

And the feeling was mutual.

This wasn't a prank in any case. Pikachu wouldn't call it sabotage, but it was clear that he was firing some sort of a warning shot.

And unluckily for Elekid, when someone fires a shot at Pikachu, Pikachu fires one back.

Pikachu got down on all fours as a white outline began to surround him. And in one fluid motion, he launched himself into a run at his fellow Electric type while a silver trail was left behind his path.

* * *

It was quite quiet in the living room of the Maple household. Max had left the room quickly to go into the kitchen, leaving May and Ash in the room alone. They had spoken a few words to each other, but every sentence would be responded with an awkward silence as well as a few sly looks at each other.

In an attempt to make the situation a little less awkward, May put the television so there would be a reason for the silence in the room at the moment. But most shows that were presented only earned a grunt of frustration from the Kanto native.

But then May remembered the incident that had happened, shortly before walking into the house. And now seemed like as good of a time as any to talk about it.

"So you won the Silver Conference? That must have been a good experience for you?"

In a few seconds, the look on May's face went from inquisitive to confused when she saw Ash put his head in his hands and mumble something understandable. The situation got a lot more unusual when Ash started to shiver again.

_What is with him and the Silver Conference?_

May didn't know how to handle the situation anymore and wanted out, but before she could have done anything else, Ash sat back up and looked viciously at May.

"Don't bring up the Silver Conference again." He said, a tad angrily. Before opening his bag and rummaging through it.

May was speechless.

_What is this guy's problem? Who the hell does he think he is giving orders to me like this? I should give him a piece of my mind._

"We're back kids!"

Both Ash and May turned around and looked to see Norman and Caroline walking into the living room. But something was different. Norman's shirt was inside out and his hair was messy. Not to be outdone, Caroline's dress had various rips in them as well as the fact that it was creased. Her hair was also messy but not as noticeable as Normans. They both had large smiles on their faces.

"Ash! It's great to see you." Caroline said, forcefully pulling Ash into a hug. Ash quickly found himself being unable to breathe.

Norman laughed. "Honey, let go of him. You are suffocating the poor boy."

Caroline obliged to her husband's request. "Sorry about that Ash."

"N- No problem." Ash said breathing in deeply between words.

"What are you doing here anyway Ash?" the mother of two asked, wondering why a friend of the family was in her home without anyone telling her.

"Well, mum had asked me to give you a slice of the cake that she made as she knew I was heading through Hoenn." The raven haired trainer said, presenting Caroline with a slice of chocolate cake, in a small tub with a plastic covering.

"Oh you're going through Hoenn are you?" Max had questioned, returning from the kitchen. "Are you travelling again?"

"Well… yes and no." Ash had answered. "I am going to Mauville City for a tournament so I thought I'd get there by foot. But after the tournament I'm heading back home."

"The Club Battle Tournament?" Norman asked, astonished. "I thought it wasn't coming to Hoenn this year?"

"That's what I thought. It was supposed to be in Viridian City but plans have been changed. I heard that there is a cash prize and a battle with an Elite Four member this year as well as the fact that it is going to be televised live over that weekend. I want in."

"I entered as well." May chimed in. "I saw that there was a tournament there this year, so I decided to enter online. There aren't any contests on that week so I thought I could stop by and participate."

"Well here is an idea!" Norman yelled, obviously excited. "Why don't the two of you travel together to the tournament? If you are both entering in the same tournament, you are going to see each other there, so why not go together?"

That was the last thing that both Ash and May wanted to hear. Things were already awkward between them as well as the fact that Ash snapped at her earlier. How the hell were they going to travel together?

_Well he seems blunt and honest. _May thought to herself. _Maybe he'll say that it is not a good idea and we can skip travelling together._

"That's fine by me."

_You have got to be kidding me._

"Sorted." Norman said, his face gleaming with happiness. "Ash can stay here and you can leave tomorrow morning." His face went from happy to serious as his hand was in his trouser pocket. "Now, where is my watch?"

"I think that you left upstairs, sweetheart." Caroline said with an added wink to her husband.

Norman made his way towards the stairs, "Let me go get it."

"I'll help you… look for it." Caroline said clearly indicating that she had no intention of looking for Normans watch. Norman caught onto Caroline's hint and shortly afterwards, the husband and wife broke into a run as they both made their way back to their bedroom.

There was another awkward silence as the parents left the room. Both Ash and May knew what was going on behind closed doors and refused made a comment about it, as well as the fact that they have barely had a normal conversation. Max was still unaware to everything as he was fully engrossed into the sandwich that he was eating

"I'm going to get Pikachu."

* * *

Pikachu was panting heavily. He and Elekid had been fighting for a while, ever since Pikachu landed that first Quick Attack after being knocked off of the tree. What surprised him was the fact that the Elekid was standing his ground and fighting back. It had been a while since he had an actual challenge battling so he thought that Quick Attack would have been the end of it.

He was wrong.

Elekid soon showed his fighting spirit by hitting Pikachu with a Quick Attack of his own, and since then the two of them were at war. The electric types had been fighting all over the greenhouse with a barrage of Quick Attacks, Iron Tails and Brick Breaks being thrown back and forth.

To most of the Pokémon it was a simple training session, so none of them paid too much attention to the battle. The others had noted that there was more to the battle than a simple training session and their eyes were completely on the duelling electric types.

The two Pokémon had not noticed that they were doing a bit of damage to the greenhouse. Branches and berries were falling off of trees as well as the grass and the leaves being scorched by some residual electricity.

"Bi Bi." Elekid yelled at his new rival. There were scratches all over his body, showing that the mouse could hit hard. But it was against his nature to back down from a fight and so he continued to fight.

Pikachu had enough, he didn't like the fact that this electric type was fighting back and he needed to put an exclamation mark on the battle, showing that this Elekid should never cross his path again.

Then Pikachu thought of an idea. As good as Electric Pokémon are when storing electricity, they can quickly be overwhelmed by a big enough force of electricity. He had experienced this first hand and could attest to this.

Chanting his name slowly, Pikachu began to focus electricity into his tail as a large number of sparks began emanating from his body. Shortly afterwards a small yellow orb began to arise from Pikachu's tail.

Elekid responded by rotating his arms around as some sparks began to generate at his antennae. He knew that this was a risky move, but he needed to stop the battle soon.

By now every Pokémon within the greenhouse was looking at them. If anybody thought that this was a mere battle now, they were either a naïve, lack good judgement or an idiot.

Unfortunately, the sparks on Elekid's head disappeared suddenly. "Bi!" He said in surprise and frustration. How could this had happened now?

Pikachu had no idea what had happened but was happy that it did. The Electro Ball was now ready for launch. With an evil smile on his face, the mouse jumped into the air and did a 360 degree turn, and the ball fired at Elekid.

Pikachu smiled as he saw the terror on Elekid's face. It was as if the Electric Pokémon was frozen in fear. Pikachu calmly watched as the ball got closer and closer to Elekid and Elekid could do nothing but close his eyes and wait for the Elekid to hit him.

But it didn't hit him

Instead a black and purple ball had hit the Electro Ball and erased it entirely. Both Pikachu and Elekid turned to see that Eevee had fired the Shadow Ball attack. The Normal type Pokémon then marched up to Pikachu.

"Vee! Eevee Ee Evee!" The Norman type pleaded with the Electric type, begging him to stop fighting with her teammate. This wasn't the place for unnecessary fighting.

Pikachu wanted to explain his side of the story but he couldn't. When he opened his mouth to say something to the Eevee, he found himself unable to say anything back. Why was that? What was wrong with him?

"Pikachu!" A familiar voice yelled.

"Pika Pi!"

Pikachu instantly ran away from Eevee and Elekid into the waiting arms of his trainer and best friend.

"I hope you have been behaving yourself, buddy?"

"Pika Pi Pi Pikachu."

"Oh really? Who won?"

"Pi Pikachu!"

"I shouldn't be surprised. Don't worry buddy. When the tournament rolls around, you'll get a challenging battle. Now let's get you fed. Also you'll never guess what stupid idea I just agreed to."

* * *

"Ok are you all ready to go?"

The rest of the afternoon flew by and then sooner rather than later, it was morning again. Everybody was at the front door of the Maple household. Caroline had helped May pack the night before but still had to ask every hour if she was ready to leave.

"Yes mother for the hundredth time. I have everything that will last until Rustboro. I can stock up there."

Ash was kicking himself that he agreed to do this. Pikachu was also kicking Ash that he agreed to do this.

"Come here May." Norman said, pulling May into a hug. "Take care of her will you Ash?"

Ash rolled his eyes into the back of his head, mentally. "She'll be fine Norman."

"I'm a big girl you know Daddy?" May replied. "I can take care of myself. I've done it before."

"Yeah, but you're travelling with a battling legend like Ash. You may be able to take care of yourself but that doesn't mean that you couldn't still learn something." Max said.

"What did you just say?" May said preparing to strike her brother.

"Can we just go already? The tournament and all your contests aren't going to wait you know?"

May groaned, "Fine. Let's go. Goodbye my loving family. And Max."

The two young adults eventually made their way to their way on the road. Leaving the two parents on the porch.

"Norman?" Caroline asked

"Yes honey."

"Do you think that this was a good idea? To make those two travel the region together?"

Norman smiled, before putting his arm around his wife.

"Absolutely not."

* * *

**Sorry about the delay, I lost all my files recently so I had to go through a long process of restoring all of my files and then combine that with college, means that I had about 1 hour per day to work on this story. I hope this makes up for it.**

**I thought it would be fun to change Norman's personality up a bit seeing as it's AU and all.**

**And I'm quite glad that I have finally finished this introductory two chapters. Now the real stuff can begin.**

**OCs still being accepted guys. PM me ;) **

**R&R**

**- Walker**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three – "Would you please shut up?"**

* * *

"Would you hurry up? We could have covered a lot more ground if you hadn't quit stopping."

The sun was beginning to set in the Hoenn region and night was beginning to fall. After a few hours of travelling, Ash and May had made it through Petalburg Woods and had made it to Rinshin Town, a few hours south of Rustboro City, where May had planned to make her first contest of the year.

"Well excuse me if I want to enjoy the scenery, you jackass."

Although the initial five minutes of travelling together was okay, after a while it became awkward and after a few choice words, both Ash and May were just finding any excuse to yell at each other.

"Out of interest, how long did it take you to get to Rustboro City from Petalburg on your first try?" Ash asked, in a condescending tone.

Scowling at Ash, May answered, "Four days?"

Ash was taken aback by May's answer, "Four?!"

"Yes. Four."

"Did you crawl?"

"How long did it take you?"

"A day."

"Did you use a vehicle or did you just sprint?"

"Are you mocking me?"

"How am I mocking you?"

"You know you are mocking me, you uppity brat."

"You're the brat."

"_You're_ the brat."

The two of them continued to bicker in this fashion for the following ten minutes, attracting looks from various people that were close enough to hear the two teenagers go back and forth. As the bickering got louder, more and more people within Rinshin Town began to distance themselves from their current location, intimidated by Ash and May.

Even Pikachu, who had been observing the two from Ash's side, was beginning to feel embarrassed and the bickering was escalating to the point where Pikachu began charging a Thunderbolt to stop them. But before he could do so…

"Will you two please, shut the hell up?"

Silenced by the sudden yelling, Ash and May turned their heads to see an old lady who was accompanied by her Politoed. This old lady was not happy, evident by the large frown on her face.

"Could you please take your arguing elsewhere or just cease it entirely?" The tone of the old woman had switched to calm, "Or else I'll be forced to do something myself in order to stop you."

"You aren't going to do a thing old lady. Scram." Ash said viciously in response, spitting as he was talking.

The old lady shook her head, "So be it." She then turned her head towards the Pokémon to her side. "Do it Politoed."

"And what exactly is your Polit-".

Ash was unable to finish his response as he was sprayed with water, coming from the Politoed's mouth. His face and part of his upper body was completely drenched. If you had just seen him, you would have thought he was caught in the middle of a rain storm.

"Pikachu. Fry that frog…" Ash said, clearly pissed off. "Pikachu?"

Unfortunately for Ash, his command was not heard. When looking down to his side he had seen that Pikachu was laughing at the events that had just transpired and probably didn't hear Ash's calls.

"Now I hope you two can keep it down." The old woman said, "I'll now take my leave."

Ash was muttering a variety of words under his breath as he watched the old woman walk away, clearly agitated by the sudden burst of water on his face and on most of his shirt. It appears that he was the only one annoyed by this however as Pikachu was still laughing and his new travel companion had a notable smile on her face.

"You should have known," May said, holding in a laugh. "You should never mess with old ladies."

She then turned and began to walk away.

"Where the hell are you going?" Ash said, irritated.

"I'm finding somewhere to eat, I'm very hungry." May replied, smirking. "Be a dear and wait for me at the Pokémon Centre."

As May walked off out of his distance, Ash mentally cursed himself for putting himself in this position in the first place. Pikachu jumped on his shoulder, but quickly jumped off down to the fact that it was uncomfortably soggy, causing Ash to sigh.

_She has a point though. I might as well find that Pokémon Centre before it gets dark. And then I can dry off these wet clothes._

* * *

"Closed?! How can it be closed?!"

May had spent the last 30 minutes walking in hopes of finding one of her favourite restaurants, located towards the north side of Rinshin Town. She could feel herself getting hungrier and hungrier as she got closer and closer to the restaurant. She was practically drooling when she found herself on the street where the restaurant was located. However, her happiness decreased and her hunger sky rocketed when she got to the front door, only to find that it has been closed, evident by the large number of wooden panels covering the windows and signs. Upset and frustrated, May found the nearest human that she could find and vented her sorrows.

"Sorry to disappoint you miss," the burly gentleman replied, "but it has been like that for a few months."

"When, why, How?" May shrieked, her voice becoming more frantic with each word. She was close to tears.

"Umm… well… it happened just after Christmas. It had become public knowledge that the restaurant was using Ponyta and Rapidash meat in their food and got the place shut down."

May wasn't able to comprehend what she was hearing. As a Pokémon Trainer she found the restaurant to be trustworthy so it was a surprise to her that the restaurant had been using meat that had come from a Pokemon. And on top of that it was meat from Pokémon that she always admired for its beauty and power, something she could have made use of in a contest.

Plus, she was still hungry.

"Is there a restaurant nearby where I could get some good ramen?" May asked, her voice became quiet, but the distress of the whole situation was still there.

The gentleman shrugged his shoulders, "I'm sorry, young lady… but the nearest restaurant that has decent ramen is in Oldale Town."

"Where am I going to eat now?" May lashed out, the tone and pitch of her voice was changing with every word. The man was beginning to get scared; he had never seen anyone act like this.

"Settle down, young lady," The man pleaded trying to reason with May, "It's just ramen."

"IT'S NOT JUST RAMEN TO ME!" May yelled, losing control of her emotions. It had clearly insulted her that this man, whoever he was, would claim that ramen was 'just ramen' and not as important as it was. Who the hell was he to treat ramen like that?

Unable to calm May down, the gentleman did the only thing he could do...

Run.

And May was left outside the restaurant, with her head in her hands, occasionally yelling to herself.

* * *

Pikachu was sitting on Ash's lap at the Pokémon Centre. Currently they were waiting for a room to be ready so they were in the waiting area, surrounded by some other trainers. Ash was scratching Pikachu in between his ears, which usually would garner some sort of reaction out of the electric type, but at this moment Pikachu was silent.

"Pikachu, is everything okay?" Ash asked.

Pikachu's ears perked as Ash was talking to him. Turning around to face him, he smiled and rubbed his head "Pika Pika!" he replied, rather unconvincingly.

Ash noted the tone of Pikachu's voice and he instantly knew that there was something troubling Pikachu, but he decided not to push the issue.

Pikachu's unconvincing reply only confused him more. He had been feeling like this since the 'battle' with Elekid the day before. He couldn't get over the feeling he had when he was face to face with that Eevee. Usually, when a human or Pokémon get into his face, he'd either state his case or pump them full of electricity. But when that Eevee got in his face, he could feel his throat throb a little and he was rendered speechless. He didn't know what to call it but he had never felt like this before and he did not like what it was doing to him one bit.

The only other thing he could think about was that Elekid. And when he thought about Elekid, he could only get angry. He wasn't looking for a fight yesterday, but that Elekid provoked him and he only thought that it was right that he taught that Elekid a problem.

But he didn't get didn't get that point across.

That Elekid was tougher than what Pikachu first imagined. Pikachu found that out the hard way as Elekid soon bought the fight to him and more often than not, Pikachu was unable to defend himself from Elekid. He would have respected Elekid's toughness if he didn't get the urge to hit him every time he thought about him.

Taking a deep breath, Pikachu rubbed the bottom of his foot. To add to the constant thoughts that he had about the battle, he had a small bruise on his foot, making it slightly painful for him when he would walk. He had never been more thankful for Ash's shoulder than that moment, then and there.

All he could do was think of those few moments. Falling off of the branch, hitting Elekid with an Iron Tail and the Electro Ball being smashed by Eevee's Shadow Ball were on a constant loop on Pikachu's mind. He knew that these thoughts were not going to go away at will and as long as he was near to them, they would be the only thoughts that he could think about.

"PIKACHU!", Pikachu yelled in frustration, his emotions had gotten the best of him. Unfortunately his yelling had gotten the attention of almost everyone in the Pokémon Centre and now all eyes were on him and Ash.

"Have you never seen a Pokémon before?" Ash said in a menacing tone. "Mind your own business."

A small smile stared to form on Pikachu's face as he watched as every trainer that had been staring suddenly turned around and continued what they were doing as if nothing had happened. He was happy that Ash helped him out of that slightly embarrassing moment that he put himself into.

"I don't know what that was about Pikachu, but can you shut up please? I'm sure if something like that happened again, we may get asked to leave."

"Pikachu" Pikachu responded sadly.

"Listen, I'm not mad at you. I know something is up with you and I am sympathetic, but I just wanted to make sure that you knew what could happen if you didn't calm down," Ash scratched Pikachu's chin, earning a small giggle from his starter. "Now if you smile, then you can get some ketchup."

Pikachu's ears perked up at the sound of his favourite thing to eat and he immediately ran up onto Ash's shoulder and nuzzled his cheek, ignoring the fact that he was getting wet whilst doing so.

"Pika Pikachu."

"Yeah, I love you too buddy."

Pikachu climbed back on to Ash's lap and hugged his chest. For the first time all day, his mind was off of the Eevee and Elekid and now he was thinking about was how awesome his trainer is. His mouth had started to water at the thought of consuming some ketchup; it had been a long time since he had eaten some.

A large smile spread across Pikachu's face as he was happily daydreaming about

"Ash Ketchum, you're room is ready." The Nurse Joy of Rinshin Town had loudly stated.

Ash stood up immediately, causing Pikachu to fall into the seat next to him, "I guess that's us buddy. Let's go."

* * *

It had been twenty minutes since May had found out about the closure of one her favourite ramen restaurants and her mood had not changed since. She was now sporting the biggest frown of all time on her face and was now angrily walking to the Pokémon Centre.

This day couldn't have been any worse for May. On top of walking with a complete stranger at a pace well beyond her comfort zone (which included them yelling at each other until they were at the point of losing their voice) she was now hungry beyond belief and her feet were hurting.

_Why is this happening to me?_

She had to stop herself once she had gotten to the point where she last saw Ash and Pikachu. The pain in her feet had gotten the best of her and at that moment the idea of walking was way too much to tolerate.

She groaned loudly as she took solace on a row of wooden boxes. She slowly removed her shoes to inspect the sole of her feet. As she was expecting, they were as red a strawberry.

"This is so unfair." May vented her frustrations yet again, but this time there was no one that was the direct recipient so as a result, everyone within the vicinity could hear.

"Hey, will you shut up please? No one wants to hear you whine."

May looked up and her eyes immediately spotted a young lady who was standing a few meters away from her. Her face was completely covered by her black hair. This girl was accompanied by a blue and yellow dog-like Pokémon.

"Can I help you?" May replied.

"Yeah, you can help me by zipping your fat mouth."

Ignoring the pain in her feet, May stood up and walked over to this rude young lady.

"Manec…" The Manectric began to growl from beside this young lady.

"Calm down, Manectric." The young lady said, keeping her eyes on May the entire time.

"Just who the hell do you think you are?" May said. "Do you talk to everyone like that?"

The young lady smirked, "Only to those who deserve it."

"Who are you?"

The young lady tilted her head, "The names… Annie."

Annie then proceeded to move the hair out of her eyes, revealing her face and then extended her hand out for a handshake, knowing that May was not going to shake it. She laughed as she saw the anger in May's face rising.

With her face now visible, May took a step back to try and get a good look at Annie. The first thing that May had noticed was that Annie was tanned, which was a common thing to see, given the climate. Annie was slim, which complimented the red V-neck and black jeans that she was wearing.

"Okay then, Annie," May began "Do they have manners where you from?"

"Kanto? Maybe… but I wouldn't know. I don't tend to play by the _rules_."

"You're from Kanto? What the hell are you doing in Hoenn?"

Annie laughed and pulled a small case from out of her back pocket. "I think you'll know when you have a look at this."

Annie opened the small case and May was taken aback by what she had seen. Inside the little case that Annie had presented, there were three items. Two of them were small badges, but they didn't really catch the attention of May.

What May had her eyes on was a small purple ribbon with a very small medallion in the middle. The medallion was gold and despite its size, shone brightly.

"You're a coordinator?" May asked, slightly shocked.

"Yup. Just like you, May?"

May took a step back, "How do you know my name?"

The smile on Annie's face dropped, "That's a joke right? You're May Maple… daughter of gym leader Norman, winner of the Sinnoh Grand Festival. You must be stupider than you look to think that people don't know you?"

May scowled. "Okay then you condescending little idiot, Just what is it that you have got against me?"

"Well I heard you crying and complaining to that poor man about your precious ramen and I was going to say something then, but I thought better of it and I walked away. But then, by some divine intervention, I find you here complaining again. Like sheesh lady, you aren't the only one with problems."

Annie didn't stop there, "Also, I don't understand the hype surrounding you. Yes you won a Grand Festival, but I watched this Grand Festival, as well as many other festivals and contests that you have been in and you are…remarkably average. "

May could feel her blood boiling, "Well you know what-",

Annie cut May off, "I don't actually care, May. Just know this. We're rivals now. I already have one ribbon and I'm going to get my second at the Rustboro City contest in three days. I'd like to beat you there too. If you are as good as everyone thinks, then you'll battle me there. Goodbye."

May wasn't given any time to respond, as Annie walked off, her Manectric following her as she walked away. Her anger levels had raised and lowered over a few seconds as she watched her new rival walking away from her. Eventually, Annie was out of sight and May was beginning to calm down. Unfortunately, the pain in her feet was now coming back, and May began to whimper.

_I need to sit down._

* * *

"What took you so long?"

Night had quickly fallen in Rinshin Town and Ash and May were in their room within the Pokémon Centre. Not a lot had been said between the two, and they had been in each other's company for a few hours.

"What do you mean by that?" May asked.

Ash placed his hands on the back of his head. "Well, you said you had gone to find something to eat and then you had been gone for just over four hours. Leading me back to my original question, what took you so long?"

May shrugged her shoulders, "Well, the place where I wanted to eat had shut its doors forever. And on the way back to the Pokémon Centre… I got side-tracked."

"Oh, why did the restaurant get shut down?" Ash asked, not sounding interested at all.

"Because the place had been using Ponyta and Rapidash meat in their food. Can you believe that?"

Ash lied down on his bed and looked towards the ceiling, "Meh, a bit of Ponyta meat never hurt anybody."

May's jaw dropped, "Please tell me you're joking?"

"Afraid not." Ash said, his interest in the conversation had gone.

"That's disgusting. Who knows what diseases you can get from that? And just think of the Ponyta and Rapidash. I'm surprised you're so calm about this, considering you are a Pokémon Trainer."

Ash sat back up and looked May in the eye, "May, what exactly do you want me to say? Some Pokémon are bred for domestication, some are bred for sport. And a select few are bred to feed humans. That's just the way the world works. Granted I don't eat Pokémon meat that much, but it was either that or starve to death, I'm going to eat it."

"What if it was any of your Pokémon?" May immediately retorted.

It was at that point where Pikachu, who had been trying to block out the sounds of the two humans arguing, looked at Ash, slightly worried.

"Stupid question. If it were _my _Pokémon, I wouldn't eat it."

Pikachu blew a sigh of relief.

"Can we not argue now please May? We have had a long day today and quite frankly, I'm too tired for this."

May opened her mouth to say something in rebuttal, but she realised that Ash was right. Instead she transitioned her open mouth into a very unconvincing yawn. She then sank into the wooden armchair that was in the room and thought desperately for a conversation topic.

"When's your first contest?" Ash asked.

May turned her head towards Ash. "Three days. In Rustboro City."

"Are you ready?" Ash replied, now lying down on one of the beds in the room, with a sleeping Pikachu on his chest.

"Are you actually interested?" May began "Or are you going to make a snide comment within the next two minutes?"

"I was being serious." Ash said, exasperated.

"Oh… yeah" May replied.

Sensing that May didn't want to push the situation any further, Ash simply lied down on his bed, tilting his cap over his eyes. Pikachu jumped on his chest and curled up into a ball, giving a last look at the brunette before closing his eyes.

"Well, I suggest you get some sleep as soon as possible. The earlier we leave, the earlier we can get to Rustboro and then you'll have a few days to get everything sorted for your contest."

Ash then reached over to his right side and turned off one of the two lights leaving May in the semi-illuminated part of the room. He then grumbled a few words that may have been interpreted as a 'good night' and promptly fell asleep.

May gradually picked herself up out of the armchair and walked into the cramped bathroom that she and Ash had to share. Filling the basin with water, her mind went back and forth between her last contest victory months prior, and her meeting with Annie a few hours prior.

"_If you are as good as everyone thinks, then you'll battle me there."_

May clenched her fists tightly as she looked at herself in the mirror. She didn't see herself in the reflection, she saw her new rival.

Unfortunately, May was wrapped in her thoughts of crushing Annie in battle and she did not realise that the water had begun to overflow and hit the tiled floor.

_Crap. _

Gritting her teeth, she splashed the cold water across her face. As the bitter coldness of the water smacked her, she felt her rage diminish almost as quickly as it had escalated.

Taking a deep breath she walked out of the bathroom and climbed into her bed. Before she could fall asleep, she took one last look at the person on the bed next to her. As she was staring at Ash, she couldn't help but think about what he had asked.

"_Are you ready?"_

May looked over to her bag and could see six Poke balls in a small compartment. With a newfound smile, she reached over and turned off the remaining light.

_As ready as I ever will be._

* * *

**I feel like I will be saying this after every chapter, but apologies about the delay between chapters. Exams have started. Final assignments are due and that is leaving little time for me to write. Also, I have received some bad news today so that unfortunately means that I have little to no time to write. But this will be the last time I complain about how 'rough' my life is as other people had it worse.**

**But anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Now all the introductory BS is done I can finally get into developing the story.**

**The OC 'Annie' was the OC from my good friend PAS-15. **

**Also I don't like to plug my stories or anything but could you all take a look at my new story 'Progression' please... it's on my profile. **

**K thanks bye! :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four – Look at me when you talk to me.**

* * *

Rustboro City was statistically proven for being the largest metropolis in Hoenn. The streets were constantly filled twenty four hours a day; it didn't matter if they were filled with men, women or children. The only constant was that if you were to find yourself on a street in Rustboro, you will be endlessly manoeuvring yourself between people no matter what you do.

Because of this fact, almost every shop was open 24 hours. No matter what you were looking for at any time, there was bound to be a place open for the consumer, giving people the extra incentive to be out of their homes.

"Are these streets _never _busy?" an exasperated Ash asked.

Ash and May were on their way to the Rustboro Contest Hall, so May could enter her first contest for this contest circuit. The travelling between Rinshin Town and Rustboro was quick and relatively unproblematic leading to them getting to Rustboro in a matter of hours.

However the following two days they spent little to no time with each other. Ash was out all day training and May spent too much time shopping. And when they did manage to talk to each other, Ash would only talk comment on how May should be training and May would tell him to "mind his own business" or she would say how "this is none of his business" or at times she would extend her _colourful_ use of the English language all of which would abruptly end the conversation.

And now the day where May could finally compete had arrived and they were well on their way to getting to Rustboro Contest Hall… but the busy streets of Rustboro halted their progress.

Substantially…

"Why are there so many people? It's like these fools never sleep. It was not like this the last time was here." Ash continued, whilst getting nudged by passing people.

"Pika!", the Pokémon on Ash's head added. He was also unhappy at the sudden turn of events but in comparison to his trainer, he was a beaming ray of sunshine.

"I think I have a solution to a short term problem." May said, standing to the side of Ash, avoiding most of the crowd.

"And what is that?" Ash asked, a glimmer of hope beginning to shine through his words.

"You should try shutting that massive mouth for once. And try smiling.", May immediately burst into laughter.

Ash did nothing but frown at the brunette, who in turn laughed even harder.

"You know there is nothing worse than someone who laughs at their own jokes."

"I do know that and yet… I don't care." May replied, smiling rather happily at Ash.

Feeling relatively accomplished at aggravating Ash, May decided to get a lot more focused and she put her mind at the task at hand. She immediately looked to the nearest street sign.

_Holly Lodge Street_

The smile from May's face dropped as she looked at Ash once more, "The contest hall is on Atlas Street, we are on Holly Lodge Street. I think it will take about thirty minutes to get there on foot, so we better get a move on."

"I'm not going with you." Ash replied, simply.

May's expression suddenly became confused. "Wait…what?"

"Yeah, I can't come watch your little contest thing… I remember I have this favour to carry out for an acquaintance of mine as she found out I was in Rustboro."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Wow." May couldn't quote remove her current expression off of her face. "I didn't think you had the people skills to have friends or acquaintances."

"Probably because for the most part I don't need them."

"What is this favour and who is this acquaintance?" May asked, crossing her arms.

"Sorry kiddo. That's on a need to know basis… and you don't need to know."

May just stood there, silent. She couldn't understand that Ash, who had the personality of a loner, actually knew people could tolerate him. She didn't think such a feat was possible.

"So…" Ash continued, "I need to go in a different direction now. So I'll see you later at the Pokémon Centre. Best of luck May. With all that _training_ that you put in over the last two days, you have this contest in the bag.

And with that, Ash pushed straight passed the people that were in his way and within a few seconds, he was out of May's sight.

_Well, _May thought, _that was… unexpected._

* * *

Less than half an hour later, May was approaching the Rustboro Contest Hall. In the time taken to get there, the weather had switched from warm to humid, making May's journey a lot more uncomfortable then it had to be. Combine that with the fact that she was weaving in between people and you can only imagine how May was feeling at this point.

The closer and closer May had gotten to the contest hall, the bigger the smile on her face grew. After her last Grand Festival, she took the summer off, a rule that was enforced for all Pokémon Trainers and co-ordinators so they could spend time with family and friends. May had taken advantage of this rule as she immediately booked herself a trip to the Orange Archipelago. Upon returning home to Petalburg she spent a lot of time buying clothes, eating and sleeping. But as much fun she had whilst taking a break, she missed coordinating and battling alongside her Pokémon and she couldn't wait for this day to come and now it was here, she was literally counting the minutes.

The crowds were becoming thinner and thinner, allowing May to stop walking and catch her breath for a few moments. All this distance being travelled in a shorter time than usual had drained her energy and combining that with weaving in between hundreds of people on the street made her a little uncomfortable so she rested her back against a lamppost and breathed a sigh of relief.

Almost immediately, May began to think about her last conversation with Ash. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't quite grasp the concept of Ash having friends by the way that he has acted so far.

_Maybe acquaintance has a different meaning where he is from. Kantonians._

After having a small giggle at the thought of what Ash considers an acquaintance, May decided to keep on moving. Due to less people on the streets, she could move at a quicker pace.

But at soon as she turned a corner she found herself at a standstill. Looking directly in front of her, she saw a bunch of people organised clumsily into three single files. A large majority of the people were parents accompanied by their children, the latter of which were carrying either a magazine, a figurine or a Pokeball.

Squinting her eyes, May saw a smaller group secluded from the original group. They were a group of fully grown men in black coats, carrying an assortment of cameras.

_Oh crap. Fans and paparazzi. _

May quickly took out a mini make-up kit from within her bag. After looking at her reflection in the small mirror, she wiped the thick layer of sweat off of her forehead. She then inspected her armpits and she thanked Arceus that there were no traces of sweat that were noticeable.

_I can't believe that they are so early. I look hideous._

After a few more minutes of checking to see that she was presentable, May decided to finally continue to walk down the street. Considering that she felt rather unpleasant, she was hoping that people wouldn't recognise her.

It was at that moment she wished she would wear something different for a change.

Almost immediately, she was noticed by everyone that was standing in that line and all she could here was her name repeated over and over. The children were notably louder than anyone else, with more enthusiasm on their faces than anyone else. Some of the parents had begun to smile too, although in comparison to the children, it wasn't notable.

All May could hear was her name being yelled repeatedly and all she could see were hundreds of people rushing towards her. Seconds later, she was surrounded by pictures of herself, Poke balls and the occasional figurine of herself in the same dress she wore when she won her first Grand Festival. Then she couldn't move, breathe or hear herself think.

Before anything else could happen, a flash of electricity hit the ground nearby to her, stopping the fans long enough for a bunch of security guards to separate May from the group. Without managing to grasp the situation, May continued to walk to the Contest Hall.

"Oh it was you," a voice said, "Had I known it was you, I would have left the fans to maul you."

May turned to her side to see that Annie, alongside her Manetric were on the same street as her. Both Annie and Manetric were frowning.

"What do you want Annie?" May replied, agitated.

"Well… I decided to go for a walk before the appeals and I heard that there was a commotion over here and since the security guards were not doing their job, I took it upon myself to get Manetric to fire a Thunderbolt to help the person in the hopes it would be someone like Wallace or someone who actually matters in co-ordinating. But it was you and I am really disappointed."

"Oh how _kind _of you." May retorted. "I suppose I should thank you b-"

"Don't thank me. You aren't going to be happy when I take that ribbon and embarrass you in front of all your fans, on television as well."

"Live television?"

Annie smiled, "It won't be live, but it will be recorded for the weekend roundup of all the contests in the region. And once word gets out that _Princess of Hoenn, the amazing, outstanding, excellent, fantastic May Maple _gets owned by a relative newcomer… then I will be a one to watch this year. I'll make front pages by Monday."

"Someone sure is confident." May nonchalantly replied.

"I have to be or else I won't win. I'm sure you must have been like that."

May opted to remain silent, she knew Annie was right but she didn't want to give Annie the satisfaction of being right.

"Well this has been fun, but I have about two hours until my appeals and unfortunately most of the people will miss it because I'll be one of the first to go on and most people won't be in their seats by then. Try not to flop in your appeals, the world is watching. Plus I want to beat you."

With that, Annie walked away from May, stepping on May's foot before leaving.

_I hate her so much. She's worse than Ash._

* * *

_Rustboro Academy AND Gym? They merged the two together?_

After a few minutes of searching (most of the searching done by Pikachu) Ash was now standing at the front doors of the Rustboro Academy, but to his surprise, the Rustboro Gym was now at the same location.

_Why did I agree to do this? _

Ash started to feel a little uneasy whilst looking at the huge building that stood before him. In a small matter of moments, his usual cool and calm demeanour had been replaced with a nervous, hot and sweaty manner.

"Pika Pi?" Pikachu asked, looking at his trainer with concern.

"It's nothing, buddy. I just… don't like what I'm going to do. I haven't done something like this before."

"Pikachu?"

"Yes, I am prepared… well kind of."

Pikachu facepalmed, "Pika Pika."

"Well I know what I am going to say, just not word for word."

"Pi Kachu."

"Well, we could spend this time going back and forth or we could actually go in and get this done."

Pikachu just laughed and jumped onto his trainers shoulder. After wiping some of the sweat off of Ash's forehead he signalled for him to go forward.

Ash made a few footsteps forward before he stopped and looked around him. He noticed that a few people that were heading for the building were either taking a quick glance at him or full on staring at him.

_What's with them?_

Ignoring them, Ash moved towards the front door. He found that the closer he got to the front door, the easier he began to feel.

_Maybe this won't be so bad._

Before he even noticed, he reached the front door and found himself inside now in the entrance hall of the Academy. Almost immediately he began walking towards the receptionists table, but he stopped when he noticed that 80% of the people inside were looking at him.

_Again? What is everyone's fascination with me? Is there something on my face?_

Ash quickly rubbed his face and checked his hands.

_Nothing that I can see. So what is it then?_

Before he could press the situation further, Pikachu made a gesture to go and talk to the receptionist, to which Ash obliged. Ash walked over, ignoring everyone that was looking at him and he soon found himself staring at a middle-aged woman, who was staring at her computer.

"Excuse me?" Ash asked the receptionist, "I'm looking for Roxanne do you know where she is?"

"State your business." The receptionist replied, still staring at her computer.

"I'm doing a lecture for her. She told me ahead of time to get someone to get in contact with her as soon as I get here."

"What is your name?"

"Ash Ketchum… from Pallet Town."

"Which room is this lecture in?"

"I have no idea."

"Then I cannot help you." The receptionist said, still looking at her computer.

"Could you tell me where Roxanne is?"

"Sorry, no. you'll have to wait for her on the off chance of a challenger coming to battle her."

Usually, Ash would have just complied trying not to cause a scene, but the combination of the busy streets, people staring at him and now this woman not giving him the courtesy of looking at him whilst talking to him had pushed him over the edge.

"Hey!" Ash yelled, startling Pikachu in the process, "Why don't you look at me when you talk to me?"

The woman hesitantly looked up, now staring in the eyes of the Pokémon Trainer.

"Now, I will ask you again. Where can I find R-"

"Ash you made it!"

Ash turned to his right to see that Roxanne was looking at him with a smile on her face. She was carrying a large amount of books and you could hear breathing a little deeply.

"Did you run or something Roxanne?"

"Yeah, I was training with my Pokémon and lost track of time." Roxanne replied, before turning her attention to Pikachu. "How are you doing, little buddy."

Pikachu extended both his fists in the air, "Pi Pikachu."

Roxanne quickly laughed before looking back at Ash. "Thanks so much for doing this Ash. Are you ready?"

"Well I owed you back when you helped train my Boldore." Ash replied crossing his arms. "I just want to get this over with."

"Well let's go then! Follow me." Roxanne exclaimed.

"Wait one sec, Roxanne. Can you answer me this question?"

"Sure."

"There are people that are staring at me. Do you have any idea why?"

Roxanne took a quick look around, looking at all the people that were glancing at Ash. After a few seconds of wondering, Roxanne quickly took out a folded sheet of paper. She quickly put all her books on the ground, unfolded the paper and presented it to Ash.

**Come and receive a lecture from former Silver Conference winner Ash Ketchum **

**This Saturday at the Rustboro Academy/Gym**

There were also a few pictures of Ash and Pikachu on this piece of poster.

"When you confirmed that you were going to this lecture, I figured I would promote it. At first only people studying at this Academy were going to be here, now we have people coming from all over to listen from you."

Ash was surprised, "Me? Really, I'm not even that famous."

"If someone has an accolade then the people will come, believe me?"

Ash started to feel uneasy again, "So… how many people are supposed to be attending my lecture today?"

"Well… somewhere between four and five hundred people."

"Really?"

"Really. Really."

_Motherf…_

* * *

The Rustboro Contest had kicked off and it was deep into the appeal rounds. Many aspiring co-ordinators making their debut on the big stage and many fans were in attendance enjoying every moment of it.

May's time to perform was fast approaching and she was feeling more than confident. After making it through to the front desk and receiving a new ribbon case, she finally made it to the locker room where she finally got some time to sit down and think about how she should approach the contest.

But after a while of watching the appeals, she felt that she didn't need to prepare as much. When watching the appeals, she could tell that there were a lot of co-ordinators on their first or second try and combining that with the scores that they were getting, she figured that there is no reason to put too much thought into it.

_Still… shouldn't get too confident._

May opened her bag and looked at her Poke balls. After a few seconds of deliberation, she pocketed four of them and then left the remaining two in either hand.

_I'll use you for the appeals, _May thought whilst looking at the Poke ball in her left hand, _and I'll use you for the battle._

May began to smile as she put the final two Poke balls in her pocket. All the drama and hassle with travelling with Ash was completely out of her mind and all she could think about was getting on that stage and putting on a show for the crowd and the judges. And the prospect of picking up the first of five ribbons that would look good in her case and then on her wall at home.

"_**And now our next performer hails from Kanto. Already collecting a ribbon from a contest last week in Dewford Town, please show your appreciation for Annie Caswell!"**_

After hearing the message echoed through the locker room, May (as well as the other coordinators in the locker room) turned towards the television as Annie took her place on the centre of the stage.

* * *

Annie eyed the crowd as she clutched her Poke Ball. She was still relatively new to co-ordinating having spent most of her time chasing badges, but it didn't show when performing. She was the only one of the coordinators in this contest that had already won a ribbon, when partaking in a contest that was not at all promoted or advertised. She only entered because she was in the area.

Unlike most of the coordinators competing today, she was not dressed in some sort of formal clothing. She was wearing the same clothes that she wore when she had met May earlier, the only difference was that she now had a pendant that was visible to see.

As always, Manetric was right by Annie's side and was wearing the same intense look as his trainer had.

She looked to her right and saw the host and the judges, including a very excited Mr Contesta who were all clapping alongside the crowd.

Sooner rather than later, the applause had ended and that was Annie's signal to start her appeal round. She instinctively pulled a Poke ball from out of her pocket and enlarged it in her hand.

"Go, Gardevoir." Annie said calmly before throwing the Poke ball into the air.

The crowd started to applaud again as the psychic type materialised from her Poke ball. Gardevoir said her name quietly and then looked towards Annie.

"Magical Leaf."

Gardevoir opened her arms as if she was signalling that she was going to give someone a hug. Almost immediately, a large selection of multi coloured leaves appeared out of nowhere.

"Now!" Annie yelled.

Gardevoir sharply threw her arms in front of her. As soon as she did, the leaves immediately shot themselves towards the crowd.

"_**And in a daring start from Annie, she has ordered her Gardevoir to fire a magical leaf towards the crowd. Is she crazy? Or is she really a secret genius?" **_

"Psychic."

Gardevoir lowered on of her arms and her eyes turned a light blue. The leaves all simultaneously turned light blue and stopped where they were, right in front of the front row of the crowd.

Gardevoir moved her arm in a circular motion and the leaves followed suit, as all of them moves in a slow circular motion, just like a Ferris wheel.

"Thunderbolt."

Gardevoir stopped the circular motion and held her arm up, aligning the leaves one behind the other. Whilst holding her arm up, she closed her eyes allowing the electricity in her body to charge. Finally she opened her eyes again and a huge jolt of electricity shot from her body and into the leaves, causing the leaves to disintegrate and small colourful sparks to hit the ground.

"Finish this Gardevoir, you know what to do."

Gardevoir placed her palms together and slowly started to pull them apart. When she started to pull her palms apart a small 'moon' appeared in between her hands. The further and further the palms were the bigger and bigger the 'moon' became. Gardevoir slowly raised her arms to the sky, making the 'moon' rise into the air.

Everyone, from the fans to the judges to the other co-ordinators was in complete awe. No one had the words to comprehend what they were seeing. They couldn't even find the will to move. Besides the various paparazzi and reporters that were taken thousands of pictures

Annie smirked whilst looking at the audiences faces. She had everyone in the palm of her hand.

Annie then clicked her fingers. Gardevoir responded to the click by suddenly dropping her arms to her side. The 'moon' dropped to the ground in a hurry and disappeared upon contact with the ground.

"Thank you, Gardevoir." Annie said, returning the Pokémon into the Poke ball. "You did very well."

For the first few seconds after the Psychic Pokémon had been returned into its Poke ball, the crowd was still silent, still reeling after what they had saw. But once the shock of what had happened had worn off, they erupted into applause.

"_**An… amazing performance from Annie, showing us something that I'm sure we have never seen before." The voice of Vivian Meridan echoed. "Let's see what the judges have to say about this performance."**_

Almost immediately, all three judges scored Annie a top score of '10', making the crowd applaud even louder.

"That may have been one of the greatest appeals that I have ever seen." said Mr Contesta, happily.

"That was fantastic. Dare I say…Remarkable." Mr Sukizo replied.

"I was blown away with what I had just seen. Truly a one-of-a-kind performance. Well done."

Annie mouthed the words 'Thank You' to the judges and then turned and faced the crowd. She took a bow and then alongside her Manetric, she left towards the locker room.

* * *

_Wow… she's good._

Like everyone else that had been watching Annie's performance, May was nothing but amazed with what she has just saw. Instantly she felt that no matter what she could have done, her appeals round would not be anywhere as near as good as Annie.

It was then she started to wish that she would have trained with her Pokémon whilst she had the time.

_Ugh. Ash was right._

"I told you that I was that good."

May didn't even face Annie when she heard her voice, she just clenched her fists.

"I think I just swagger jacked all your fans, Maple. And if I didn't then I definitely will Manetric mops the floor with whoever you send out to face it."

"Ecc!" Manetric yelled, enforcing his trainers point.

"Best of luck May, I'll be watching."

May turned around and left without saying a word. She wasn't even angry with what Annie just said to her, she was even more determined to win.

_Let's do this._

* * *

**So yeah, this is going to be a two parter...**

**Hope you had fun reading xD sorry about the lengthy delay**

**The next chapter is currently under way! Albeit, I only have a paragraph... better than nothing right?**

**The next update won't take 3 months... later**


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